6 5 



coir made in the Peninsula. In Singapore, I have found in oik; 

 place some Chinese who roughly beat out the husks, and twisted 

 the fibre by hand into very coarse weak rope, which was sold very 

 cheaply for tying up parcels. 



In India and Ceylon the coir is extensively prepared and is 

 always in demand for cordage, cables, mats, brushes, etc. The 

 husk is removed from the nut with an iron spike stuck in the ground 

 and the husks are thrown into salt-water tanks for from 6' to 18 

 months. If fresh water is used it becomes foul and the fibre is 

 discoloured. The tanks are sometimes warmed by steam and this 

 shortens the operation and softens and improves the fibre. When 

 thoroughly soaked the husks are beaten with mallets and rub' 

 between the hands to get rid of the cellular substance between the 

 fibres. In Ceylon it is said that 40 coco-nuts will produce 6 lbs. of 

 coir; in the Laccadives it is said that 3 large nuts will produce 1 lb. 

 coir measuring 22 fathoms, and 10 small nuts go to about 1 lb., but 

 this will measure 35 fathoms of yarn. A good deal of the value of 

 the coir seems to depend on the age of the fruit as it becomes hard 

 and woody when the fruit is quite ripe. It is therefore cut in the 

 10th month, if for coir. If cut before it is too weak and if later be- 

 comes coarse and hard. 



This is perhaps the reason why our local coir is said to be useless. 

 The nuts grown chiefly for copra are allowed to become quite ripe, 

 by which time probably the fibre is so hard and coarse that it is 

 difficult to work it. But an enormous number of nuts here are used 

 young for food. In fact, it often pays the planter better to ship 

 them to India and elsewhere for food than to use them for making 

 copra. The husks of these nuts would well be worth the attention 

 of those interested in fibres, who could easily start a coir factory 

 in. Singapore. 



Beside the Chinese rope above alluded to the only other manu- 

 factory of rope or mats ! know of is that of the Gaols where the 

 prisoners are employed in the work. 



The cost of the husks in Singapore is about 50 cents a hundn d. 

 With the large number of wasted husks in this country, it is possi- 

 ble that some business might be donein coir- making. 



Arenga sacckarifera, Kabong fibre, Tali Hijau, Vegetable horse- 

 hair : — 



The fibre of this palm is well known in the Malay Peninsula and 

 Islands, but is very little known in the home markets as it has been 

 seldom offered for sale and not in sufficient quantities. The palm 

 is common in cultivated ground all over the Peninsula and a wild 

 form grows in Province Wellesley. It is valued for its fibre and 

 also for its sugar, the well known G..la Malacca, used either in the 

 form of molasses or as a kind of Candy. 



The fibre is produced from the base of the leaf sheaths, and en- 

 wraps the trunk of the tree, its function apparently being to prevent 

 the rain-water entering below the sheaths, and injuring the tree. It 

 is simply pulled off the tree and rolled into bundles, after which it is 



